Storm in the Night
by Burst-in-Flames Tiger
Summary: The raven-haired girl traveled to southeastern Vacuo in search for an answer. However, what she found in the town of Malic was something that she had never expected.


In the remote place near Vacuo, a strong breeze blew from the east as the sun slowly hid itself into the west. It started from the mountain ranges separating the green meadows of Vale and the brown dusty roads of Vacuo. What the breeze carried with it was a single soul, a raven-haired woman with eyes of amber. Her destination was a small town in the mountainous region to the southeast of South Vacuo, a place that no sane person dared to enter alone.

Malic was previously a town for aquatic hunting, big and small, but at presently it was a ghost town. The raven hair had seen the state of the town with her own two eyes. Most of the people had already fled to greener pastures, a decision that was never easy for anyone, and those that stayed must either be loyalist to their birthplace, the town officials working to maintain what was left of peace in it, retired people wishing for peace, and more.

That was what brought the raven hair to that town. She needed to find someone there, not a relative, not a friend, not even an enemy, only a name. What remained of the town was sparse, spread out around the fourteen kilometers of diameter around the city's borders and collected inside the few kilometers of square blocks in its middle. The lesser time she had to spare to find a good lead, the better.

The lifeless building surrounding the town center was depressing; a constant reminder for the raven-haired woman that the time was good, and it was never coming back. She had wondered what the town would look like if the fisheries were operational, but it was not of top priority to concern about an unrelated affair. She was here for information, and she would not back down before she had a lead on her next search.

What trails of information she had acquired for years had finally led her here, she had repeatedly doubted her decision to pursue this impulse. However, she was desperate to solve it, she had a lot of time to search, but there would be a time limit before her target disappeared forever. That was not what she wanted. There was no pleasure in a search with just any resolution, it would not be right for her to close the curtains that way. She had to find him at all cost.

She slowed down when she saw an open bar. A white-painted store named 'Moonlit' in neon red. In truth, she had seen the bar after she went around the town to see if there were any information source, and she believed her answer reside behind the wooden red door of the bar's entrance. After another search, she stopped and went inside the establishment. What she found behind the door that shrieked ten noises at the same was something she had never expected to see in such a remote place.

A woman with white hair, who stood on her chair with one leg on the counter table of the bar, was pointing a six-cylinder gun aimed between the eyes of a wide-eyed man behind the counter. That poor man was shaking like a tree on a windy day. Meanwhile, the white-haired girl herself was calm, though everything about her felt dangerous. She was truly the eye that the storm she created had surrounded, the force of pressure she exuded was felt first hand by the raven-haired girl who had entered the bar a few seconds ago.

"...Guess you got lucky, Coal," the white-haired woman smirked as she slung her revolver back into its holster. A leather holster made out of premium materials was before the woman's stomach as she turned to the raven-haired girl. "How can I help you, lost kitten? I'm not sure this place would be such a good place for goody-two-shoes like you."

The woman did not feel real for the raven hair. She was wearing a black dress and a hat, as if she was on her way to a funeral. Her facial feature was of an older woman, somewhere in her mid to late twenties. She was smiling a sultry smile, a sinister expression that could swallow and consume people whole were they not careful. Her body was curvy, almost like an hourglass, and in an instant, the pressure she had exuded was completely gone. A calm disgusted her, something that she had not felt in a long time.

"Are you done?" said the raven-haired girl. She was not afraid to plant her feet where she should not be, and this was one of those instances. "This is a public bar; I can come and go here whenever I want, unless you want to obstruct that man's business that is."

The woman turned her eyes to the side; a slight frown appeared on her face for an instant, before she chuckled. "No, I believe that was enough from me for today." The woman turned to the man she called 'Coal' before and continued. "Do tend the little missy for me, alright sweetheart? We'll call it even if you do, deal?" She asked as she rubbed the man's cheek with her small and gloved hands. "Don't look so stiff now, Coal. You managed to buy your freedom for another day. You should be happy right now."

There was no answer from the nervously smiling man. His eyes were still wide, if not wider than before, and his shaking got even worse by the second. It was not until the woman released her touch from his cheeks that he fell onto the floor, as if his whole soul had fled out of his body. The white-haired woman could not help but belt out a laugh, but it was not so funny to the raven-haired girl.

She rushed to the back of the counter and held the man in her arms. She shook him once, twice, thrice, but not response. She pressed her palm against the man's wrist and felt a pulse and sighed in relieve, which prompted her to look at the woman behind the counter. However, what she found was the closing of the red entrance door instead. The woman had fled the scene, leaving only fear in her wake, like a storm in the dead of night.


End file.
